


Nightmare

by lucretia_the_director



Series: Vaugely Interconnected Magcretia [1]
Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Balance Campaign, Cuddling & Snuggling, F/M, Fluff, IPRE Era, Minor Stolen Century Spoilers, Nightmares, Sleeping Together
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-28
Updated: 2017-07-28
Packaged: 2018-12-07 22:59:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,111
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11633718
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lucretia_the_director/pseuds/lucretia_the_director
Summary: Sometimes, sleeping alone is the hardest thing to do.





	1. Of a Night

Magnus Burnsides had always felt every emotion to its fullest extent. And sure, most of the time that led to crying when he was sad and laughing when he was happy and yelling when he was angry, but sometimes it also led to nightmares when he was afraid.

Most of the time he was proud of his emotional depth, but Magnus was a fighter - he was big and strong and it was hard to admit that he was afraid of anything, sometimes. Which left him, most of the time, shivering alone in his bed with the lights on late in the night, trying to forget the horrors that had woken him.

Most of the time it was the Hunger swallowing up a plane that they hadn’t managed to save or one of his friends falling during the fight and those were scary enough as it was, but they were doing everything they could to protect the planes and his family always came back at the beginning of the next cycle so he was able to compartmentalize and shove those fears down.

The more… irrational nightmares were harder to forget. Dreams where someone died and didn’t come back, dreams where they all fought with each other and didn’t make up and spent the next however-many-years not speaking with each other, dreams where they weren’t able to escape at the end of a cycle and were swallowed up by the hunger…

Lucretia hadn’t come back this time.

He knew it was a dream, he could clearly remember sitting next to her during dinner mere hours ago, but that didn’t ease the knot that had formed in his stomach or his burning desire to check in on her, just to make sure.

When a lump in his throat joined the knot in his stomach, he wasn’t able to stay in bed any longer. Throwing the covers back, he scrubbed at his face with his hands, rubbing both the sleep and the tears from his eyes. He struggled into a shirt before padding quietly out of his bedroom and into the hall.

Lucretia’s room wasn’t far from his, only a few doors down, but the distance felt like a mile as the dread pooled even more heavily in his stomach. Putting his hand on the doorknob, he was relieved to find it wasn’t locked and that it opened quietly when he turned the knob and pushed.

She was sleeping peacefully.

He knew he should leave and that staying any longer than it took to reassure himself that she was alright was enough to cross the line between concerned and creepy, but he couldn’t help himself.

She was sleeping so peacefully, sprawled out on her stomach, a single leg kicked free of the covers to dangle over the edge of the mattress that he just couldn’t look away. Her hair was loose and spread across the pillow she had clutched to her chest; she was snoring lightly, audible inhales that whistled out through her nose, hitching slightly when she shifted. She squinted, even in her sleep, when the light from the hallway fell across her face.

Magnus started to back away as she shifted more purposefully, trying to close the door before she caught him watching her.

He wasn’t quick enough. Lucretia pushed herself upright, fighting back a yawn as she looked towards the source of the light that had disturbed her. Making reluctant eye contact with her, Magnus smiled apologetically.

“I didn’t mean to wake you up,” he whispered. “I just wanted to make sure you were alright.”

“Why wouldn’t I be?” she slurred sleepily, rubbing at her eyes and sitting up properly.

“I… No reason, just… Nightmare?”

“Wanna talk about it?”

Magnus shook his head. “I just wanted to make sure you were okay,” he repeated. “I’ll go now.”

But he lingered in the doorway, unable to leave quite yet. She was awake enough to notice that.

“Do you wanna… stay?” Lucretia offered, tentatively.

Magnus shuffled his feet in response, glancing back out into the hallway before nodding hesitantly. She pulled back the covers a bit as she slid to one side of the mattress and rearranged her pillows, which had migrated across the bed while she slept. When he made no move to approach, she patted the bed beside her before lying back down and getting comfortable again.

“Hurry up,” she murmured, curling around a pillow again. “It’s cold.”

He crawled into the bed beside her, lying down on his back, arms at his sides, stiff as a board, completely and totally aware of her body beside his.

She sighed in exasperation and slid closer to him so that she could wrap her hand around his. “I’m not much comfort if you’re all the way over there,” she teased, voice still heavy with sleep.

With a soft, stifled laugh, he relaxed enough to turn onto his side and face her. Twisting his hand so he could lace his fingers through hers, he lifted her hand to his face and kissed her knuckles before hiding behind her hand as he spoke.

“I… We’d lost you. You’d died and when we reset… you weren’t there. There was nothing we could do. You were gone and there was nothing I could do. I’m so sorry.” He was crying again and, even though he was hiding his eyes, he was sure she could tell.

“Magnus, I’m fine. I’m right here. I’m not going anywhere.”

“I know but… that doesn’t make it feel any less real.”

She pulled their hands down and away from his face, reaching up with her free hand to brush away the tears clinging to his lashes. He sighed and pushed his face against her delicate fingers, savoring the drag of her writing callouses over his skin.

Her expression softened when he leaned into her hand. Tossing away the pillow that separated them, she moved closer, snuggling into his arms and pressing her face into his chest. His arms came up around her automatically and he relaxed as he breathed in the scent of her shampoo.

“Sleep, Magnus. I’ll be right here when you wake up.”

He slept.


	2. Of a Year

Lucretia hadn’t gotten a good night’s sleep in nearly a year.

The only thing that kept her going was the coffee she downed by the gallon and the knowledge that she could not die, that everyone was depending on her to survive this year.

When the Hunger came she nearly cried in relief, running to the bridge and leaving that plane to its fate as quickly as she could. She collapsed to the ground when she felt the reset sweep over the ship, body no longer showing the physical signs of her year in hell but still harboring a battered spirit and a bone deep sense of exhaustion. 

It took everyone a minute to get their bearings after being reformed but when they did, it was to a sobbing, mumbling Lucretia who was clutching her knees to her chest in a desperate attempt at physical comfort. 

The sound of approaching footsteps was enough to make her flinch and curl even further in on herself; knowing she was finally safe didn’t erase the fact that she had been hunted nonstop for nearly an entire year. 

After a tense moment of suppressing her fight or flight instinct she glanced up. Magnus was crouched down beside her, expression visibly distraught, and his hand was hovering over her shoulder, like he was afraid to touch her. 

She launched herself to her feet and into his arms, making him stagger back in surprise. Within moments, Magnus was back on his feet, sturdy and solid and whole and here. Lup plastered herself to Lucretia’s back and Taako and Barry were there too, Barry with one arm around Lup and the other slid between Lucretia and Magnus’ stomach and Taako on the other side, face buried in Lucretia’s hair, one hand on the back of her neck and the other curled up and around Magnus’ shoulder. Merle was tucked in between Barry and Magnus with his arms wrapped around her hips and Davenport…. 

She opened her eyes, searching for Davenport. He was hanging back, just out of arm’s reach, watching the six of them with a fond expression. Working an arm free, she held her hand out to him and pulled him into the hug when he took it.

She’d made it. She’d fought and she’d ran and she’d survived. They were home now; her family was back together, back where they belonged. Standing here, with the most important people she’d ever met wrapped around her, Lucretia was finally able to relax because she was finally home. She’d fucking made it. 

Lucretia hadn’t gotten a good night’s sleep in nearly a year.

She was so very, very tired. 

She knew everyone could tell - they weren’t very subtle in their concern: Merle brought her chamomile tea every night; Lup brought her blankets whenever she found her on the couch in the common room; Taako, blatantly, offered to cast sleep on her; Barry offered to listen if she ever needed to talk; Davenport insisted that the rest of the crew could pick up the slack if she wanted to take some time to herself; Magnus… hovered.

Not stiflingly so, but he was always in her peripheral - smiling when they made eye contact, finding something to do so they were in the same room, bringing her drinks and snacks whenever he got one for himself, sitting close enough that she could lean against him if she wanted, just… hovering. 

They were reluctant to order her to bed, but when a week had passed and she had spent a solid eight hours asleep, mostly tucked against Magnus’ side, their reluctance began to fade. 

Taako stole all her pens and her notebooks so she couldn't distract herself; Lup graduated from bringing her blankets to straight up tucking her in and threatening to sit on her if she tried to get up; Merle tried to replace her tea with sleeping potions. Magnus continued to hover, but he had taken to humming whenever they were in a room together and that, that tangible reminder, even when her eyes were closed, that she was not alone, was enough to lull her off into a restless sleep more than once. 

It wasn’t until Lup threatened to lock her in her room and Barry threatened to let her that Lucretia found herself outside Magnus’ bedroom, one hand fidgeting nervously with her neckline and the other poised to knock. She sighed and looked away, unable to watch her hand come down hard on the door, knocking once twice three times. 

Magnus’ muffled voice drifted through the door, inviting her in. He’d been sitting at his desk, carving yet another duck for Fisher, when she’d knocked, but he’d abandoned that in favor of turning in his seat to look at her. 

“Do you think… I could maybe… sleepheretonight?” She flushed when Magnus grinned at her and brought a hand to her face in embarrassment. 

The sound of footsteps and there was a hand on her wrist, pulling it away from her face. “Don’t be embarrassed. I was waiting up for you.”

She blinked at him.

“I heard Lup earlier and you agreeing to try to rest. I figured you might want to…. Like we used to when I couldn’t sleep.”

She nodded and Magnus used the wrist he hadn’t released to pull her towards the bed. He fell back onto it, tumbling her down beside him playfully and arranging her body to his liking. (She let him, because he knew how she liked to sleep and because his hands felt good on her touch-deprived skin.)

When he finally settled, Lucretia was pressed full length against him, as much skin contact as possible without her taking off her pajamas. She sighed, finally able to relax as the heat of his body soaked into her tense muscles. 

The sound of him breathing was almost enough to comfort her as she closed her eyes, but it only took a minute for the silence to creep up on her and force her eyes back open. “Will you hum?”

He chuckled and took a deep breath, humming a song from some long forgotten planet. She smiled and buried her face against his throat, content to let the vibrations of the song work their way through her and lull her to sleep. 

Clinging half-heartedly to the edges of her consciousness, still not entirely willing to let herself go, she grumbled in protest when Magnus stopped humming for a moment.

“Sleep, Lucretia. I’ll be right here when you wake up.”

She slept.

**Author's Note:**

> [ Tumblr!](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/lucretia-the-director)


End file.
